


we fight against our hearts

by sylveonimbus (cloud_sakura)



Category: Free!, Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-27
Updated: 2014-08-27
Packaged: 2018-02-15 00:14:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2208387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cloud_sakura/pseuds/sylveonimbus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Haru starts noticing Rin, and he doesn't like it. Nope.</p><p>(This is completely independent of my other PJO AU, and features Aphrodite's son Rin and Poseidon's son Haru.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	we fight against our hearts

**Author's Note:**

> [bee](mikoshibas.tumblr.com) said: i keep thinking about rin with a bunch of makeup on his face telling haru he loves him
> 
> i said: oh no oh shit
> 
> well, then.

Rin is wearing mascara.

Haru’s been at sword practice all day, trying to work up a sweat. The sword in his hand seems to mock him when he looks at it. _Vengeful spirit of the sea._

(“It’s the rage of those spirits at sea, trapped in a sword,” Gou had explained earlier, when she had taken him to the workshop. “It has some history, but not much – not as much as Riptide, for instance.”

He hadn’t bothered to ask her what a Riptide was supposed to be, too focused on the gray waves hitting the shore through the blade, the black-blue, almost transient quality of what was supposed to be Celestial Bronze.)

He stops when Nitori’s sword is knocked out of his hand and lets the boy catch his breath, waiting motionless and back straight, looking out over the horizon at the hill, where the younger Aphrodite kids are chasing each other around, a chaperone watching over them. A chaperone with wine-red hair in forget-me-nots and clear ruby eyes defined with liner and mascara, and skin like snow.

 _It’s just makeup,_ he reminds himself. _Aphrodite’s allure._

“Wow, Nanase-san; that was absolutely amazing!” Nitori gushes, once he’s regained his breath. He picks up his sword and grips it more firmly. Haru nods at him. “You’re getting better too.” And he is – he knows that a lot of people would be saying that the kid would be dead by now in actual combat, but he’s improved at a rapid pace, especially once he’d found the weapon of his choice.

“Thank you!” He smiles brightly, pushing his bangs out of his eyes. “Matsuoka-senpai’s been helping me with it a lot, and it…” here the boy blushes, and Haru tries not to roll his eyes. He maintains the deadpan expression, but it’s difficult. “Anyway, I think I should practice more now that I can properly wield a sword!”

Haru watches him go, still blushing to the tips of his ears. Honestly, people bringing up Rin in front of him have been having the same reaction all week. It’s ridiculous. More than half the camp had fallen in love with Rin when he finally got his spontaneous supernatural makeover last week. It’s not a big deal, except Rin knows what he looks good in and exactly how to exploit it. He doesn’t need any more supernatural guidance –

“Haru!”

– to look like he stepped right out of the cover of Vogue magazine. Haru grips his sword tighter and turns to face Rin.

He has cherry-blossom petals weaved into a tiny braid on the side of his hair ( _out of season? How…of course, the Demeter kids_ ) and he’s still wearing mascara. Rin doesn’t need to wear mascara – his eyelashes are probably twice the size of every other guy’s on camp anyway.

He pisses Haru off so much sometimes.

“You’ve been at sword practice all morning,” Rin says, hand on one hip. His white tank top is slipping off his shoulder – he’s obviously run all the way here, but he looks barely out of breath.

“Yes,” Haru replies shortly. The other kids nearby are looking at them surreptitiously – Haru supposed they think they’re really being subtle about it, what with slowing down with their hits on each other.

Rin grins slowly, and even his smile is attractive, shark-teeth and all. “Wanna spar?”

Haru tries not to give his bare arms a once-over and fails. “Bring it on.”

Sparring with Rin is always unique. He doesn’t use long range weapons well, and he’s got really good arm-length as well as speed, so it makes sense for him to use the two sai he usually conceals in his trousers. An unusual weapon set, but it suits him. Today he’s wearing cream-colored pants that cut off mid-shin, his legskins showing underneath, paired with his new tank, and he looks –

Rin casually pulls them out of the holsters, falling back a little, and swings the two weapons. “Come at me, Haru!” he taunts, ruby eyes flashing, red hair falling into them. A vengeful, beautiful spirit.

– dangerous. Dangerous is a good word.

Haru strikes first, and Rin retaliates. It’s always the same dance with different steps. _Sidestep, strike parry, strike, dodge, jump, strike, parry – blow._

Or what Haru thinks is a blow. A petal comes off Rin’s hair, sliced off by the sword at the last second, but Rin simply narrows his eyes and starts attacking. Close combat is highly difficult when it comes to Haru’s weapon, so it turns into a game of dodge. Considering that Rin has long arms and two pieces of sharp Celestial Bronze he wields to near perfection, it leads to Haru rolling on the ground after every half-strike. He nearly manages to knock one of them out of Rin’s hand, but then it comes back with double force. He parries it with his sword, flat on the ground, and then rolls away and back up, managing to come up behind Rin at the last second, holding his sword across his neck.

“I win.” Haru says.

Rin grins at him craning his neck to look at him with one color-lined eye. “No you don’t,” and that’s when Haru notices the sai pointed at his neck and the other at his side. He should have taken Rin’s flexibility into account.

Haru breathes in. It’s a tie.

It’s a tie, and he can smell the cherry blossoms in Rin’s fragrant silk hair. He’s right up against Rin’s back, and he can feel the contours against his chest, Rin’s breath coming in short pants, the beads of sweat on his white neck.

“Haru,” Rin starts, his voice a little high. “Can you take the sword off my neck now?”

There are people around them, who are studiously _not_ looking at them. Haru slowly drops the sword, which vibrates in his hand. _Good battle_ , it whispers.

It was a good battle, Haru has to concede. It was also something completely…different.

Rin turns to him, giving the sais another practice swing. His face is slightly redder than normal, red on white, extending all the way down to his neck – Haru avoids looking at his chest at all costs.

 _Aphrodite’s allure,_ he reminds himself.

“It was a good battle,” he repeats out loud, trying to diffuse – whatever it is, crackling in the air between them.

Rin nods – it’s almost imperceptible – and his hand goes to the flowers in his hair, which have barely budged in the entire ordeal.

Haru really, really hates those flowers, and how they look like they belong in his hair. What does that even mean? Rin’s not a fucking cherry tree.

Rin’s cheeks are cherry-red now. “It was.” The high voice from before hasn’t faded. “Uh. You should probably take a bath or something, you stink.”

Haru wants to say, You do too, but he can’t lie, not with the scent of his hair still filling his nostrils.

“I’ll go for a swim,” he says, dismissively, and starts walking out of the compound, letting the sword shrink into the small penguin charm.

“I’ll come with you!” Footsteps follow him, and Haru quickens his pace.

“With those things in your hair?” Haru says dryly, not looking back.

“They’re not going to be a problem – don’t you like them?” His voice is small, somehow, and it doesn’t suit Rin. Rin is always loud, almost to the point of obnoxiousness.

“You don’t really…need them in the water.” You don’t need them to look good, he doesn’t say.

“Whatever, Nanase, I can beat you in a race even with these on,” Rin proclaims, like they’re twelve again. Haru glares at the path leading up to the lake. Today is not a good day.

(He doesn’t, of course, and pouts about it until they make it a best of three race. At least the water is nice today, even if the normally giggly water nymphs are worse than usual, watching the two of them from a distance and gossiping among themselves.

“Hey, Haru?” Rin calls, once they’re lying on the bank with their clothes on again, side-by-side. His makeup is apparently waterproof. Haru should’ve known.

“What is it?” he asks, turning over to face him.

Rin looks at him, face suspiciously red, eyes glittering. “It’s nothing,” he says with a smile.

Weirdo. Haru looks away, at the lake glistening a few feet away, and Makoto and Nagisa are sure to join them soon here. But right now, it’s just the two of them, and Haru can smell the ridiculous cherry blossoms again, and he was wrong.

It _is_ kind of a good day.)

**Author's Note:**

> Haru's sword, the vengeful spirit of the sea, is based off [this legend](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funay%C5%ABrei). And he thinks it's kinda mocking him because Rin's dad died at sea. These kids can't go without angst for one day, I swear.
> 
> (This is all Bee's vocaroo's fault.)


End file.
